Newsletter 200 | October 11th 2015

Welcome to the 200th Critical Care Reviews Newsletter, bringing you the best critical care research published in the past week, plus a wide range of free full text review articles, guidelines, commentaries, editorials, study critiques, correspondence and case reports from hundreds of clinical and scientific journals.

As it's the second newsletter in five days, it's shorter than usual edition, with its highlights being 30 great trauma articles from Current Trauma Reports, editorials from Intensive Care Medicine on ARDS, and two obstetric guidelines, on intubation and cardiac arrest. If you only have time to read one paper, try this one from Nature, on how scientists fool themselves.

Keeping with recent Topics of the Week, this week we look at the HEAT Trial, focusing on temperature management in suspected infection. The first paper, on fever management in ICU patients with sepsis, is from the chief investigator of the HEAT trial, Dr Paul Young, and is available in tomorrow's Paper of the Day.

In news this week, the SMACC organisers have released a new website, containing an early programme, and announced dates for the sale of tickets. On a similar note, preparations are nearing completion for the ICS State of the Art 2015, featuring key names from the FOAM world for the first time. For those who missed the Hot Topics Session at ESICM, the talks from the Wednesday session are available online. Finally, the Critical Care Reviews Meeting 2016 edges ever closer, with chief investigators for some of the biggest trials of 2015 discussing their studies in person, including several of those who presented at the Hot Topics Sessions in Berlin during the week.

Due to hugely successful previous events, the Critical Care Reviews Meeting 2016 has been moved to a brand new venue, the stunning, multi-million pound Titanic Centre, birthplace of RMS Titanic, As before, the meeting theme is to review the biggest studies of the previous year, with chief investigators present where possible to discuss their work in person. From Wellington, New Zealand, Dr Paul Young will talk on his studies SPLIT (saline versus plasmalyte) and HEAT (paracetamol for pyrexia control). Dr John Holcomb (Houston, USA) will review his mega trial PROPPR, evaluating blood product transfusion ratios in traumatic haemorrhage. Dr Anthony Gordon (London, England), will review his VANISH study, a multi-centre randomized controlled trial comparing vasopressin with noradrenaline, with or without hydrocortisone, for first-line vasopressor support in septic shock. Prof Tim Walsh (Edinburgh, Scotland) will review the ABLE study, including his ABLE UK component, evaluating age of transfused red cells, as well as RECOVER, a post-ICU rehab study. Similarly, Prof Danny McAuley (Belfast, Northern Ireland) will also review a post-ICU rehab study, the REVIVE trial. In addition, two of the most eminent intensivists in global critical care, Prof Jean-Louis Vincent (Brussels, Belgium) and Prof Luciano Gattinoni (Milan, Italy) will be on hand to discuss the significance of these findings. It won't be all study discussion, with other elements to the meeting, including the spectacularly popular "Informal Chat", taking place that evening.

If you haven't yet attended this modern, niche meeting, then put the date Friday January 29th in your diary. Both delegate and speaker feedback from previous meetings has been incredibly positive, allowing the event to grow and attract some of the biggest names in critical care. The Titanic Centre is just minutes from Belfast City Airport, with a hotel within 3 minutes walking distance, and is a 20 minute walk from the city centre, including the Cathedral Quarter, Belfast's cultural centre full of great restaurants and pubs. Further details regarding delegate rate accommodation should be available in the next week or two. Talks are given in the setting of the rebuilt famous staircase from the great ship, while both the "Informal Chat" session and dinner overlook the floodlit slipways where Titanic and Olympic were launched. With some exciting new innovations planned, this new meeting promises to delivery on its burgeoning reputation. The finalised programme won't be released until later this Autumn, but don't wait too long before registering, as numbers are capped to keep this an intimate event. It is as strong a one day programme as you could possibly find. If you think your colleagues would find this event interesting, please circulate this information - this is a not-for-profit event, run in association with the Northern Ireland Intensive Care Society.

Under the inspired guidance of meeting organiser Ganesh Suntharalingam, this year's State-of-the-Art Meeting promises an exciting programme in a new dynamic format. It aims to be the first major national society to fully embrace social media and free open access medical education, with an opening plenary session and a workshop, as well full integration of Twitter questions into sessions, live blogging, and open-access AV materials.

State-of-the-Art is the biggest critical care meeting in the UK, and it's on the move: by combining the resources and influence of the ICS, with a radical redesign and the input of a whole new committee, including several from the FOAMed world, such as Steve Mathieu (The Bottom Line), Jonathan Downham (Critical Care Practitioner), and me. The result should be something unique. It's also the only meeting of this size where the delegates get to steer how the meeting evolves, so have your say.

The 4th SMACC Conference comes to Dublin next June. It's on in the spectatcular Dublin Convention Centre, on June 13th to 16th. Registration opens on Wednesday October 28th, with the first of three batches of tickets going on sale at 09:00 Sydney, Australian time. Early registration is advised, as the event could book out within 24 hours.

Critical Care Horizons is a fresh new voice in the critical care literature, offering thought-provoking, cutting-edge commentary and opinion papers, plus state-of-the-art review articles. The journal is free to publish with and free to read, opening authorship opportunity to all. The energetic editorial board consists of a deliberate mix of clinicians active in social media and world renowned academics, all driven by a desire to improve the care we offer our patients, and operate without financial gain or incentive. If you have an idea for a paper, and can say it in an engaging manner, please get in touch. We also need peer reviewers.

COI - I am the editor-in-chief of this new journal, but work in a voluntary capacity, as do all the editors.